Curtain.



CURTAIN.

urmonron rum) Jun 5,1906.

Patented Oct. 11,1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

E. E. WHITMORB.

CURTAIN. APPLICATION IILBD mun 5,1965.

972,422. Patented 0ct.11,1910.

2 SEEETBSHEET 2.

vto retard the curtain in UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD E. WHITMOBE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE CURTAIN SUPPLY COMPANY, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSE Y, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CURTAIN.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

Application filed June 5, 1905. Serial No. 263,787.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,- EDWARD E. WHIT- MORE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Curtains, of which the following isa specification.

This invention relates to improvements in curtains such as' are used upon street cars. Such curtains are adapted to be wound upon spring-actuated rollers and are commonly provided with some form of holding device at their lower ends, these holding devices having ends or heads adapted to travel in grooves formed in or on the posts constituting the sides of the window opening or doorway designed to be closed by the curtain. In some cases the curtains are provided with steel batten strips extending across the curtain, these batten strips being inserted into pockets formed by sewing narrow strips of the curtain material across the curtain at proper intervals. The batten strips are somewhat longer than the Width of the curtain. The projecting ends'of the batten strips extend into the grooves and move along these grooves as the curtain is raised and lowered. In the practical operation of these curtains it is found that there is considerable friction between the edges of the curtain at or near the points where the batten strips are secured and the sides of the grooves. This is especially objectionable when these curtains are used in a window wherein the groove or runway for the curtain is-curved. Not only is the friction destructive of the curtain, but it prevents the proper operation of the curtain and its holding device. I

It is the object of the present invention to provide a construction of curtain and batten strip in which the friction tending its movement along the groove is lessened or wholly overcome, and in which, also, the destructive friction of the edgeof the curtain upon the sides of the groove is eliminated.

To this end my invention consists in the combination of parts hereinafter disclosed and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawin s', in which- Flgure 1 is a ront elevation of a window frame fitted with a curtain provided with batten strips embodying a preferred form of my invention, In this figure the stop at one side of the window casing is represented as removed to expose the edge of the curtain and the ends of the batten strips. The stop at the opposite side of the window frame is in part broken away; Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevational front view of a fragment of the curtain, showing the end of a batten strip; Fig. 4 is an end view of Fig. 3; and Figs. 5 and 6 are similar to Figs. 3 and 4, but show a modified form of the invention.

In these drawings, 10 is the window frame, having mounted therein the springactuated roller 11 upon which winds the curtain 12. In the bottom of the curtain is carried a holding and guiding device 12*, which may be of any approved type. Extending across the curtain are strips of curtain material forming the batten pockets 13. In these pockets and having ends extending beyond the edges of the curtain are the batten strips l i, which ordinarily are made of steel, and are secured in the pockets by rivets 15. In the end of the batten strip 14 I preferably mount a small roller 16 with its axis of rotation parallel to the length of the batten strip. The diameter of the roller 16 is greater than the combined thickness of the batten and the curtain material on each side of the batten and less than the width of the groove, so that there will be no frictional engagement of the curtain material with the side of the groove at that point. By reference to Fig. 1 and particularly to Fig. 2 it will be seen that this feature of my invention is of considerable importance when the curtain is designed to run in a curved groove. There is present, however, this tendency for the curtain to chafe or drag against the side of the oove when being raised or lowered even if the groove be straight due to the pressure of the wind a ainst the curtain. It is to the overcoming of this chafin or dragging that the present invention is directed. J p

In Figs. 5 and 6 I show a modification of my invention in which the rollers 16 are replaced by rounded projecting surfaces 17 which may be convenlently formed by round headed rivets. These rounded surfaces ma be formed 11 on one or both sidesof the batten strip as desired, and are sufliciently high to prevent contact of the material of the curtain with the side of the groove.'

The forms of my invention herein shown and described are illustrative only of its principle, and variations in detail ma be made without afl'ecting the substance of the invention orsacrificing any'of the advantages thereof.

I claim 2 The combination with a casing having guide grooves formed witn parallel fiat side walls, of a s ring-actuated curtain the margins whereo enter said ide grooves, a batten strip carried by sai cuytain, said strip projecting on its ends into. said guide grooves and having a substantially rectangular aperture in each end, and an anti-friction roller of greater diameter than the combined thickness of the batten stri and the curtain but of less diameter than t e width of said guide grooves mounted in each of said apertures and adapted to travel in said side grooves.

EDWARD E. WHITMORE. I Witnesses:

'A. H. HEDIGER,

HENRY G. TURNER. 

